{
  "id": 8216963,
  "title": "Klimakunnskapen som blir for tung å bære",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/18/klimakunnskapen-som-blir-for-tung-a-b-re",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-18T09:19:35.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "E24 Norway",
    "slug": "e24-norway",
    "url": "https://e24.no/energi-og-klima/i/d4eAbj/klimakunnskapen-som-blir-for-tung-aa-baere"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In June 2025, the Storting approved new climate targets that require Norwegian emissions to be 70 percent lower than in 1990 by 2035. Climate impact reduction is clearly a commendable goal. However, as a society we have many good objectives, and to prioritize effectively, we need to understand the costs of different measures. Therefore, an inquiry was conducted, establishing that costs should be assessed. The government's climate policy proposal in the Storting's motion, however, does not include cost assessments. The government gave three different reasons for not doing so: firstly, they do not want to estimate the costs; secondly, they cannot estimate the costs; and thirdly, they have already estimated the costs. The first answer, that they do not want to estimate, pertains to today's climate policy, such as electrifying oil extraction or electric vehicle charging. As stated by Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, the former climate minister until recently, it would be misleading to estimate these costs. Bjelland Eriksen has also decided that the Environmental Agency should determine the size of global emissions caused by Norwegian consumption. This seems both more expensive and more difficult than estimating the costs of Norwegian climate policy. The second answer, that they cannot estimate, refers to the measures in the Green Book, or Climate Status and Plan, which are expected to reduce Norwegian emissions by 10 percent of the 1990 level by 2035, equivalent to 5 million tons. Therefore, the government has a precise idea of how much these measures will reduce emissions. The cost of these estimates, however, remains unknown. The government claims that it is difficult to determine which measures should be taken. However, this is not harder than having a clear idea of how much they will reduce emissions. But even today's climate policy or the measures in the Green Book only reduce emissions by 67 percent. We need to reduce emissions by an additional 3 percent to reach the 70 percent target. This will cost between 2 and 4.2 billion kroner per year to bring down these last 3 percentage points. Clearly, it is neither easy nor difficult to calculate the cost of this. When representatives of the government say that the costs are actually estimated, they mean those costs. The Progress Party had previously suggested that the costs of reaching the climate goal by 2035 could be 170 billion kroner per year. Annual costs would then be reduced by 35 million tons. If the cost is 5000 kroner per ton, this equates to around 170 billion kroner. A cost of 5000 kroner per ton is far from insignificant. We already have costs that are significantly higher than this, and we have only reduced emissions by 14 percent. Tax incentives for electric cars are estimated to be up to 12,000 kroner per ton of CO2 reduction, while new climate requirements for offshore vessels can cost 19,000 kroner per ton. Since the government has not done this voluntarily, the Progress Party proposed that the Storting instruct the government to present a cost analysis. This seems uncontroversial, but only the Center Party and the Christian People's Party supported the proposal. All the other parties, including Høyre, believed that knowledge of these costs would be too much to bear. It is serious that such comprehensive proposals are not backed by cost analyses. In contrast to this, all other policy areas use cost analyses to prioritize defense over other areas and to prioritize between different measures, such as between fighter jets and training days. It is not new that climate policy skirts around cost estimates. In her 2016 book, Jens Stoltenberg wrote that the Ministry of the Environment announced promises that were not evaluated. This must stop. Climate policy must be treated like other policy areas, using calculators, doing the work, and delivering assessments.",
  "summary": "Regjeringen vil ikke vite hvor mye klimapolitikken vi har vedtatt skal koste.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}